Special Delivery (A Valentine's Short Story) (4 page)

The three of them laughed until Amanda winced
once more with discomfort.

“We can take my car,” Katie said. “It’s
already warmed up.”

“Just let me grab one thing.” Luke strode
briskly to the living room and lifted the baby book off the coffee
table. Amanda raised her brow, questioning.

“I saw it over there,” he explained, “and it
reminded me.”

“Of what?” Amanda asked him.

“Don’t they stamp the baby’s footprints in
here or something?”

“Who told you that?” Katie asked with
amazement.

“Logan,” Luke said with a grin.

Amanda tucked the baby book in her bag.
“Well, God bless Logan.”

“You got that part right.”

Luke wrapped his arm around Amanda’s shoulder
as Katie held back the door.

“So,” he asked Amanda as they headed through
the snow, “ready to do this thing?”

Amanda smiled at her husband, believing the
world was a glorious place. And it was about to get even better.
“Aye, aye, Captain.”

He leaned toward her and whispered, “Not a
captain yet.”

“No, but you will be,” she said playfully.
“I’ve got faith in you.”

“Yeah? Well, I’ve got faith in you too.”

Then he planted a kiss on her forehead and
helped her in the car.

Ten minutes before midnight, Luke proudly
held his baby daughter in his arms. Lena was absolutely perfect.
She weighed eight pounds, two ounces exactly, and had all her
fingers and toes.

Luke gently jostled Lena and beamed at his
wife. “Not bad for a Little Bean.”

“Is he really going to call her that?” Katie
asked Amanda from nearby.

Amanda laughed weakly, but her heart was
light. The past six hours had been the most exhausting—yet
exhilarating—ones of her life. Looking at her husband and daughter
now, she knew that every second of her labor had been worth it.
“Only until Lena is old enough to tell him to cut it out.”

Luke captured Amanda in his gaze, his
adoration for her obvious. “You read my note.”

“Read it and recorded it, yeah. Believe it or
not, it was very similar to mine.”

“I believe it,” he told her. He gazed down at
the baby in his arms, then back at Amanda. There was love in his
eyes. The kind there was no mistaking. “You and I have a lot in
common, it seems. More now than ever.”

“On that note,” Katie added cheerily, “I
think I’ll leave the three of you alone to enjoy the last few
minutes of this holiday.”

“Thanks, Katie.” Amanda stretched her arms
wide and pressed her friend to her in a hug. “Thanks so much for
everything.”

“We definitely couldn’t have done it without
you,” Luke added.

“You go home and get some rest,” Amanda
urged.

“Will do.” Katie slipped on her overcoat. The
birthing room had a pullout sofa chair, so Luke could stay over,
and Logan and Tammy were stopping by in the morning. Logan would
give Luke a ride home then so he could pick up his own SUV. Before
Katie left, she turned to the three of them. “You all make a very
nice family. A very happy family, for sure.”

She quietly closed the door behind her, and
Luke handed Lena back to his wife. The baby was swaddled in
hospital blankets and in a peaceful, deep slumber. She’d worked
hard today too. Amanda studied the child’s tiny face, thinking
she’d never seen such beauty. Everything about her, from her
charcoal-colored hair to her cherubic pink cheeks, was perfect.

When she glanced back up at Luke, a tiny dab
of moisture glistened in his eye. It occurred to Amanda that she’d
never seen Luke cry. When he spoke, his voice was thick with
emotion. “This is the best homecoming a man could have.”

Amanda patted the side of the bed so he could
sit down beside them. He did, and she took his hand. “I don’t know
how you got here or who let you, but I’ll always be in their
debt.”

“I have news,” he told her. “Commander March
came to see me this morning.”

Amanda’s pulse quickened. This could mean
anything, including a move to a faraway part of the globe. While
she would go anywhere with Luke, the secret truth was, right now
and for the next couple of years, she’d give anything in the world
to stay put.

“I’ve been put in command of the air flight
training division”

Her lips pulled into a grin. “The one right
here?”

Luke kissed the back of her hand. “That’s the
best one they’ve got.”

“You’re the best the navy’s got.”

“I hope I’m the best you’ve got,” he teased
with a wink.

Affection warmed her cheeks. “You’re the best
thing that ever happened to the two of us,” she said, referencing
Lena.

Luke leaned forward to kiss her on the lips.
His tone was husky when he spoke, reminding her of the many loving
moments they’d shared and alerting her to the fact there’d be more
to come. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Amanda. I love you.” Then he
kissed her with the sweetness she’d missed for all these months,
and—to her delight—his kiss lingered.

After a while, she whispered back, “We love
you too.”

Luke met her gaze, and longing glimmered in
his eyes.

“Mind if I lie down beside you?”

Amanda scooted over, making room, and settled
little Lena between them.

Luke stretched out an arm to cradle them
both, drawing them toward his chest. His presence was tender and
warm, and Amanda gained comfort from his strength.
My husband
and my baby’s father is finally home.

What a day it had been. One that was filled
with love and happy surprises. She would remember it forever.

Luke reached for her hand and laced his
fingers through hers. “I’ll remember it forever too,” he said, his
voice gone groggy.

She didn’t bother to ask how he’d known what
she was thinking.

Somehow he always did.

As she drifted off to sleep, Amanda caught
sight of the hospital window. It was coated with snow from the
storm still raging outside. Tiny rivulets streaked down the glass,
forming intricate patterns as they went. For the life of her, one
looked just like a giant Valentine’s heart.

Thanks for reading
Special Delivery: A
Valentine’s Short Story
. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did,
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for details on other books available at multiple outlets now.

Keep reading here for a preview of romantic comedy
Baby, Be Mine
.

#1 Hot New Release in Humor!

BABY, BE MINE (Holiday Brides Book 5)

A single woman gets a Christmas gift that
sends her world into chaos, and has her tracking down a last-minute
groom - with the help of her handsome best friend.

Nikki Constantino dabbed the corner of her
eye with a tissue. There was so much dust in the room, her
allergies were going wild. It caked on the fake flowers in the blue
vase and hung heavy in the musty air. No one must have cleaned this
study in years.

The stout little man studied her kindly
through horn-rimmed glasses. “I know this is hard. You and your
aunt must have been close.” Snow slapped the windowpanes behind
him, painting icy streaks down the glass.

“Actually, I barely knew her.” She sniffed,
and Jack draped his arm around her. He gave her shoulder a light
squeeze, the silent signal between them that everything would be
all right. She didn’t have to look at him to know his dark brown
eyes were focused on the attorney in a way that said,
Don’t
sugarcoat this. Give it to us straight.

“Nikki hasn’t seen her Great-Aunt Mallory in
years.”

“Not since I was little. Ten, I think.”

The attorney studied the papers before him
and licked his plump lips. “Uh-huh,” he said, thumbing through
them. “Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.”

Jack loudly cleared his throat. “Isn’t there
something you’re supposed to read?”

The lawyer stared at Jack. “To Miss
Constantino, yes. Frankly, not understanding your relation to the
deceased, I’m not certain you should be here.”

Nikki defensively took Jack’s hand. “He’s my
best friend!”

“Friend, huh?” the other man asked, appearing
amused. “I was hoping you might say fiancé.”

Nikki glanced quickly at Jack, noting his
neck had deepened a shade. “Why on earth would you say that?”

“Might make things less complicated.”

Nikki would like to see how they could get
more
complicated. Here she sat, summoned to some tiny
Midwestern town in the thick of winter, at her late great-aunt’s
behest. And, she hadn’t a clue why. Her memories of Aunt Mallory
were less than flattering and concerned an overbearing woman
tottering on tiny heels. Her face was pasty pale from too much
pressed powder; her lips were fire-engine red. She never seemed to
get the color within the lines. And when she opened her mouth to
speak, even her portly beagle, Duke, took refuge under the bed.
Whether the meatloaf was overcooked or the thermostat set too low,
Aunt Mallory could deliver a tongue-lashing bent in the direction
of anyone careless enough to get in her way.

For the first few years after Nikki’s grandma
died, her mom, Emma, felt sorry for her late mother’s spinster
sister and invited her to join them for holidays. The invitations
abruptly stopped after Mallory threatened to stuff poor Duke and
pop him in the oven as a replacement for the
too dry
Thanksgiving turkey. Emma surreptitiously placed Duke with an
animal rescue and sent Aunt Mallory packing. It was a transgression
Aunt Mallory would never forgive. Not, apparently, until her dying
day. She left her niece, Emma, nothing, and she didn’t even know
about Nikki’s baby brother since he’d been born after she’d broken
family ties. As far as Aunt Mallory was concerned, her only other
remaining heir was her grand-niece, Nikki.

The attorney addressed Nikki as winds howled
outside. Or maybe those were the cows crying. Could cows cry from
relief, Nikki wondered? They were on Aunt Mallory’s dairy farm, all
fifty acres of it. Nikki certainly hoped her aunt didn’t leave her
that.
She didn’t know the first thing about farming. Plus,
she was lactose intolerant. “Do I have your permission to
proceed?”

She squeezed Jack’s hand, then released it
and patted his knee. She must have patted one too many times,
because Jack suddenly pinned her palm in place right against his
pants leg. Nikki sometimes had a nervous habit of doing something
over and over, but only when she was stressed. “Whatever you have
to say to me, you can say in front of Jack.”

“Very well.” He shuffled some papers. “I’ll
read what she said in her handwritten note.”

“Handwritten?” Jack interceded. “Isn’t a will
supposed to be typed or something? Notarized?”

“She had one of those. This was written
after. It supersedes the other.”

Jack sat back in his chair. “I see.”

She was glad he’d come along. When things
crowded in on Nikki, she sometimes felt driven to react quickly,
and not always in the best-thought-out ways. Like when her
knee-jerk reaction was to refuse Mallory’s
invite from the
grave
to come here. Jack said she shouldn’t look a gift horse
in the mouth until she at least knew its breed. He was right, of
course. There’d be no sense in refusing an inheritance sight
unseen. It was just the fact it came from Aunt Mallory that made it
seem unpromising. Jack was good for things like that: helping her
stay charted in the right direction. She teasingly called him her
compass. He didn’t seem to mind the moniker. He’d had it since the
tenth grade.

“
I, Mallory Gertrude Greene…
”

“Gertrude?” Jack quipped quietly beside her.
She slapped his hand with her free one. He still firmly held the
other. She tried to tug it away, but he resisted.

“
Being of sound mind and body,
” the
attorney continued, “
do hereby bequeath my entire
estate—
”

“Entire estate?” Nikki asked him. “What’s
that mean?”

“I’m getting to that part.
To the one
relative on earth who never insulted me…
”

“That’s because I was terrified,” Nikki
whispered to Jack.

“
My great-niece, Nicola Carina
Constantino…
”

Nikki swallowed hard.

“
Under the following conditions…
”

“I didn’t think the deceased could set
conditions,” Jack said.

“They can do anything that they want,” the
attorney answered. “Before I proceed, I need to read this
stipulation.”

“That’s different from a condition?” Nikki
wanted to know.

“It’s a footnote.” He turned the paper
sideways to read something scrawled along its edge. “It says here…
Important! In order to inherit, Nicola must be over the age of
twenty-five. Otherwise—
”